My name is Catherine Barnes, and I’ll be contributing a series of articles to this blog on Angolan semba and Brazilian samba. I’m a percussionist and armchair ethnomusicologist fascinated by all rhythms African and of the African diaspora. I recently returned from studying samba in Rio de Janeiro, which is also where I encountered Angolan semba music for the first time. I became interested in the similarities and differences in the two styles, and what better place to explore them than here at Akwaaba Music?
Angolan semba and Brazilian samba share a common ancestor: the massemba dance from central Angola. Known as umbigada, or “belly-bumping” in Portuguese, the dance is characterized by a hip thrust meant to mimic the act of procreation. (source)
Here’s a Brazilian umbigada group performing at the First Forum in Defense of Popular Traditions in Piracicaba, Brazil:
Now check out this recent video of couples dancing semba in Luanda, Angola. Notice the “belly-bumping” movements at 1:40.
Although samba is usually danced without a partner, samba da gafieira, or ballroom samba, has become very popular, especially in Rio de Janeiro. Seu Jorge even featured it in the video for his hit song “Carolina” :
Keep checking back for more information on the similarities and differences between Angolan semba and Brazilian samba!
Not sure why you would CHOOSE to make a youtube video non-embeddable… hopefully this won’t scare you away, and you’ll make the daring decision to click here and watch the video – you won’t regret it!
Moemdi runs Ruff Riddims, a music production studio located in Palapye, Botswana. Botswana’s national animal is the zebra, wicker baskets with geometric motifs are a national staple, and we think how Moemdi incorporated both into his studio design is PRETTY EFFIN COOL. Stay tuned for our first collaboration with Ruff Riddims, Skeat’s debut album Basimanyana Mamela Meropa.
As for the studio… Moemdi wanted to make sure we thank John Sayers and Glenn Stanton who helped him conceive the studio.
Our friend Toni Polo of Radio Groovalizacion has spent the last few months in Bamako, digging deep into the rich musical traditions of Mali. He recently interviewed Baba Salah, a musician we featured on our first compilation Akwaaba wo Africa, and more importantly one of Mali’s most celebrated artist – yet a relatively unknown musician outside of Mali! Check back for some more Baba Salah music very soon, and in the meantime let yourself sink into the sounds of Baba… the interview is in French, but you can enjoy plenty of fine music on this great show.
Here’s a repost of a great video interview Toni did with Alou Sangaré:
When Akwaaba boy Benjamin Lebrave did the photo session with NY photographer Mark Squires, he was told that everybody wants to be in the Last Magazine, but that the mag’s picky editorial team turned down anything if they’d heard of it already: so no J-Lo or Lady Gaga in their pages, they are last as in first, and Mark automatically gave Benjamin major props just for having been chosen by the mag. Besides flattery and making his subject comfortable, we like to think that we are indeed the shiznit for landing this piece, which is well written by casting wizard and apparently quite talented occaasional writer Natalie Joos. Also check out this awesome video of someone flipping through the magazine’s pages. You can download a pdf of the article here, or find the entire mag at Colette in Paris – where else!
